Having taught us in Matthew 6:5-8, how not to pray -- not as the hypocrites, not with meaningless repetitions, and not with length of prayer, but believing that our Father knows what we need -- Jesus next tells us how to pray. I notice, as I have observed Christians, that very few people actually pay attention to these simple statements of Jesus, which even a child can understand. He taught us how not to pray, and many people have not taken that seriously, and He has taught us how to pray, and even this many people have not taken seriously.

He was not giving us a prayer to blindly repeat though. There is no harm in repeating it if you mean every sentence. But Jesus was teaching us a pattern that should characterize all of our prayers.

Jesus said when you pray, pray like this -- “Our Father Who art in Heaven.” The first thing Jesus said is that when you talk to God, call Him Father. Nobody in the Old Testament could ever dare to look up to God and say, “Father.” Old Testament prayer was always, “O God, Lord Almighty, etc.” because God was the CEO of the universe and His people were like little employees in a factory. You can’t talk to the CEO any way you like! But in the New Covenant, we are God’s children, and just like the child of a CEO can walk into his Dad’s office and call him “Daddy,” so we need to understand the privilege of being a child of God. It is fundamentally different!

And yet, it is true of most Christians that they don’t call God, “Father;” they call Him, “O God.” There is nothing wrong in that. He is God, and it is right to address Him as God; but if you only address Him as God, and not also as Father, then there is something wrong.

In the Old Testament, God had a name, Jehovah (or Yahweh (Nobody knows the exact pronunciation of it because the Hebrew alphabet did not have any vowels in it)). As far as I am concerned, it is an absolutely unimportant discussion, because I don’t call God Jehovah or Yahweh! I call Him Daddy.

He is my Father because Jesus taught us to pray, saying, “Our Father.” In Romans 8, we learn that the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts and cries out, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15). Yet if you look at some of the songs people sing, like “Guide me, Thou Oh great Jehovah,” are they speaking to their Father? He is Jehovah, but we need to learn to address Him as our Father. If my children came up to me and said, “Mr. Poonen,” I would think there is something wrong with them! Why are they calling me Mr. Poonen? They should call me Daddy. When I come to God, I don’t call him Jehovah or Yahweh, even though that is His name. I say, “Father,” because He is my Father. I have become His child.

That reality of having become the child of God has not hit many Christians, and this is because they don’t open themselves up to the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit fills a person, one of the first things He does is make him cry out “Abba Father,” which means, “Daddy.” Has that happened to you? This is very, very important. It is not something that somebody trains you to say. It’s an automatic, inward cry. That inward reality comes when the Holy Spirit comes into a person’s heart, when he is born again. If he is filled with the Spirit, he really knows God as his Father. It is one of the most important things in the Christian life, to know God as Father and to call Him Father. You can call Him Lord, and you can call Him God. But the predominant way you should be praying is to your, “Abba Father.”

Not only “our Father,” but Jesus said to pray, “Our Father Who art in heaven.” We are not praying to some earthly father. My earthly father may love me very much, but he may be helpless to help me in a difficult situation. My Father in heaven is not helpless; He runs the universe. He is more powerful than the prime minister of India! Think if the prime minster of India were your father. If you had a problem, all you’d have to do is call your dad and tell him about it. Well, your Father in Heaven is mightier and more powerful than anyone in this world. Why don’t you go to Him with your problems?

Jesus was trying to lay a basis for faith in that very first sentence of this prayer. “Our Father, Who art in heaven,” makes it clear in my heart before I start praying that the One I am talking to is my Heavenly Father, a Father Who loves me intensely. This Father is in heaven, and He is almighty. These two truths, that God loves me intensely, and that God is all-powerful, are the basis for my faith. He can solve any problem - He can do anything - and He loves me intensely. This is the greatest basis for faith.

In the six requests that follow, if you look carefully, you’ll notice that the first three requests concern God. When you go to God in prayer, what is your first request? You’ll find it is almost always something for yourself or your family. “Lord meet this need,” or “Heal my backache,” or “Give me a job,” or “Take care of my children: provide a job and a marriage partner for them,” etc. There is nothing wrong with these requests. We can certainly pray for all of these things. God wants us to go to Him for every little thing, even small things. Even if you have misplaced your keys, you can ask God to help you find them.

You can ask God for every little thing, and every big thing, but what do you give priority to? Jesus said that when you pray, you should make your priority be God and His needs. That’s the meaning of “seek God’s kingdom first.” Jesus says this in Matthew 6:33, “Seek God’s kingdom first and His righteousness and these other earthly things will be added to you.” You can ask for them, but put God’s kingdom first; this is God’s way.

Jesus says your first request must be, “God, my Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name. Never mind what people say about my name. That is unimportant, because my reputation is fit for the trash-can.” Are you concerned about your name and your reputation more than God’s Name? Then you are not praying in the way Jesus taught us. Suppose somebody scandalized you or scandalized your daughter. Does that disturb you more than the name Jesus being dishonored in our country? It doesn’t bother us enough that Christians fight with each other and do so many wrong things. If that doesn’t bother us at all, I wonder whether we really have relationship with God as our Father. If you are more concerned about your name, your family name and your children (what people are saying about them), then you need to reorient your thinking and get it more centered on God.

Jesus placed a great importance on prayer. One of the things Jesus said in Luke 18:1 was that men should always pray and not give up - not get discouraged. In each of the only two parables He gave on prayer, Jesus spoke of persistence. One example of this is the widow who went to a judge in Luke 18:1-8, who kept on asking until she got justice against her enemy. Hers is a prayer for overcoming Satan and the lust in our flesh. The other example is in Luke 11:5-13, where Jesus was speaking about asking God for bread - for strength and gifts to help another person who is in need who comes to us. In both parables, the emphasis is on persistence; the person keeps on knocking until he gets that bread. The total teaching of Jesus regarding prayer is never give up! God is your Father: He will meet your need, He will overcome the enemy for you, and He will give you all that you need to bless others. We need to go to God in prayer and in faith, believing that He will give us what we ask for his glory, Amen.